Would it really be problematic to use real life women in tickling stories ?

Sometime ago, I remember reading a thread here about how it would be a problem to use real life personalities in tickling stories. I think they were discussing that the person can make the story be taken down, because such a story could possibly be 'defaming' them. Has anything like that happened ? Would it end with the story be taken down, or would the person have grounds to sue the story writer ?

I was thinking about writing a story with Ronda Rousey. I have read some other stories using her, and they're still present in the story section. Just wanted to clarify this, so that I don't get sued later.

I don't think celebrities count.

Don’t celebrities get talked about and featured in magazines and websites all the time? A good portion of that is negative or sometimes just outright nonsense. Wouldn’t that be “defaming” those people? Nobody is getting sued over all that stuff.

But it would be nice to have an administrator weigh in on the issue.

Legally, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure it's part of being a public figure. As long as you make it clear that it's fictional and you're not saying this actually happened, you'll be fine. As Primal said, magazines and clickbait articles publish much worse with much less clarity.

Ethically, I guess it's up to you. Personally, I'm guessing it probably just blends into the sheer volume of porn celebrities get. Being tickled is very, very mild compared to some of the things Celebrities are written or photoshopped doing on the internet.

change the name of the character(s)

I think with celebrities it doesn't matter. Celebrities know there are fan stories, pictures, etc about them out there. They don't care really. I doubt one of them will be pissed off they are in a tickling story since I am sure porn stories are out there with them doing much worst. I honestly think if you were trying to make money off their name, then they get upset, especially if they trademark their likeness. But a fictional tickle story? You should be good.

Now if you use a non-celebrity that probably would be more of a problem. Like if you use the actual name of a co-worker, significant other, etc without their permission. You use something that would identify them to the world, then they may not be happy you are using them in a tickling story. That might cause a problem.

I'm not a lawyer. People can sue for basically anything, legit or not. Whether or not it will get to court or upheld is another thing. Most things are State dependent. It's unlikely to come up and I wouldn't worry about it, but an individual can certainly request for information to be taken down if it concerns their likeness. If the website owner refused and the individual pursued it would probably be lengthy and probably expensive for both parties, though costs may get placed on the defendant based on the outcome. Again, not a lawyer, no experience.

Anyway, that's only the legal. There's also the moral aspect, and I don't think the argument 'everyone else is doing it' is a good defense. I also think the harm or risk attributed to the subject is relatively low, though.

I did find this, and I'm pretty tired so I didn't source check the site but it seemed to match up with things I had heard previously regarding the use of likenesses elsewhere:

https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/using-name-or-likeness-another

It's probably fine. People post candid pics of strangers here a lot already